Alliance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Primer

Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti and Fabio Gurgel, the leaders of jiu-jitsu team Alliance accepting the 1rst place team trophy at the 2008 BJJ Mundials.

We have been talking a lot about Alliance lately so I thought I would put together some information for those hoping to learn more about the team which came in first place overall at the 2008 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Mundials.

Alliance Jiu-Jitsu was born in 1991 of the relationship between the two men shown above, Romero “Jacare” Cavalcanti and Fabio “The General” Gurgel.

Jacare runs a jiu-jitsu academy in Atlanta, Georgia that serves as the base of operations for the team in the United States. Their website can be found here. Jiu-jitsu stars who train out of that academy include Chris Moriarty and Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles, among other tough competitors.

Gurgel operates Alliance’s headquarters in the fourth largest urban area in the world: Sao Paulo, Brazil. Their website is here, and includes a blog in English, one in Portuguese, and offers some amazing photos from Gurgel’s personal gallery. Heavyweight Tarsis Humphreys, ultraheavyweight Gabriel Vella, newly acquired Bruno Malfacine, and others can be found on the mats in Sao Paulo.

To understand the extent of Alliance’s influence we must not forget Ricardo “Franjinha” Miller, who began training BJJ under Jacare Cavalcanti in 1989. Franjinha’s competitors from his own Paragon Jiu-Jitsu association compete under the Alliance banner in major BJJ tournaments, which is especially helpful considering that Franjinha has produced two of the United States’ toughest competitors, Jeff Glover and Bill “The Grill” Cooper.

Another long-time Alliance staple in the United States is Fabio Clemente. Clemente’s school in New York City was home to Alliance’s uber-popular Marcelo Garcia until last year, when “Marcelinho” relocated to Florida.